


Daddys' Girl

by Merlin Missy (mtgat)



Category: BoJack Horseman
Genre: Gen, Growing Up, Minor Character Death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-25
Updated: 2017-12-25
Packaged: 2019-02-20 00:01:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,171
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13134930
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mtgat/pseuds/Merlin%20Missy
Summary: Hollyhock grows up knowing she is loved.





	Daddys' Girl

**Author's Note:**

  * For [airspaniel](https://archiveofourown.org/users/airspaniel/gifts).



The first thing Hollyhock understands is that she is loved. Even before she can understand words, before she can form memories, her senses are filled with hugs, smiles, tender words, and as many kisses as her little face can stand. Her fathers dote on her from the beginning, arguing only over who next gets to hold her, rock her to sleep, read her a story, play blocks, give her a bath, and drink pretend tea with her. Until she's six, she thinks all children must have a bevy of parents to love them, though by the time she's ten, she decides one or two parents is more than enough for most.

She learns early that eight dads not only means eight last names, but also eight incomes, which buys their family a high level of comfort, a high level of privacy, and a high class of adoption agency. Hollyhock's adoption is sealed past opening, which makes her dads happy. She is their daughter, and no one else's.

When she's four, she has a little sister for a while. Helene is a human infant, all dark curls and chubby cheeks. Hollyhock is jealous at the time her dads spend with the new baby, and upset at the time they spend away from her, leaving only one dad at a time with her at home while everyone else is at the hospital.

Eight incomes can buy a high class of medical care, and multiple surgeries to fix Helene's heart. By the time Hollyhock is five, she learns it's not enough money to fix everything. California is too painful, her fathers decide, and they move, taking Hollyhock to where she can grow up under wide skies. They lay Helene's little urn to rest in the garden in the back. Hollyhock brings her flowers sometimes, and chats at the little stone bearing her sister's long name, until she grows older and forgets for months at a time.

Hollyhock grows. She loves her dads, but she longs for information. Did her mother have this same diamond on her face? Did she get the softness around her middle from her biological father, some jolly fat man who would pat her head?

She watches television, and she goes to see "Secretariat," and she has a plan. It's not a great plan, forged more out of the teasing from the kids at school than any real understanding of what she's about to do. Eight incomes mean a credit limit of a lot, and Hollyhock pays for a trip to Hollywoo. It's like a sign, _the_ sign, calling her.

BoJack Horseman is not the same guy he was on his show, and definitely not the same horse as in the movie. Hollyhock's not stupid. She knows what these Hollywoo types are like. BoJack isn't a disappointment as a father because she didn't go in expecting much. His mom seems nice. No, take that back. His mom, her grandmother for godssake, is a vicious old bat who rips into BoJack with savage teeth. Hollyhock can see that clearly, but she has been raised by people who love her, and she has to believe Beatrice loves her son deep down. Deep. Very deep. The old lady is nice enough to Hollyhock, and to Tina, and to her doll. Hollyhock has watched enough movies to think she'll turn on her deathbed, maybe, and apologize to BoJack while he cries and apologizes right back. That's how things are in the sappy endings and happy endings.

Beatrice teaches her that sometimes there are only endings.

Her dads take her home to recover. It's awful. Her heart has been stressed, and she's going to need followup visits with her own doctor to make sure there's no lingering damage from the drugs the old lady gave her. She reads in her parents' eyes the old worries every time the word "cardiology" comes up, and it comes up a lot. They haven't forgotten Helene, only set her aside while they raised Hollyhock, and now her little ghost is in the room, which is already kind of crowded.

"You are never to see that BoJack again," says Papa Dashawn, and the other dads agree.

It's only when she is on her feet again that Papa Otto gives her the information BoJack found.

"He came through," Hollyhock says to herself over and over, rereading what he's brought her like some magic spell. Her mother's name is Henrietta. Beatrice told her from the beginning, mocking BoJack and teasing Hollyhock with the truth. Hollyhock has a mother.

She calls the number, scared and happy all in one bundle. It's weird and awkward, first explaining who she is, then slowly getting Henrietta's side of the story, all her hopes and fears for the last seventeen years. They both cry a lot. Hollyhock uses up all her cell minutes in less than three days. Papa Quackers is furious with her, but he can never stay mad at her for long.

"I want to go meet her," she tells her dads. She's fine. Her heart is fine, more than fine. She wants to add someone else to love. She can read the worry again, and she listens as they mutter to one another that she's leaving them. The last time she left them she nearly died.

"I didn't die," she says, knowing she'll never get another chance to listen in on their secret talk. "And I'm coming home. I want to see what she's like. I am always going to love you, no matter what." That starts dad tears, and a big pile of dad hugs. Hollyhock loves dad hugs, when she's surrounded by so much affection she almost can't breathe but in a good way. Maybe things would have been different if Helene had been here too, if they'd felt confident adopting more kids, but in this life, she's the one they love more than the whole world, and they squeeze all their love into her with kisses atop her head.

"Don't accept any drinks from anyone," says Papa Jose.

"Call every day," says Papa Steve.

Hollyhock makes her reservation, and she calls BoJack from the airport to tell him the news. She's happy for her, which is amazing because she's never seen him happy at all. The flight arrives on time. Hollyhock goes to the baggage claim, not to get a suitcase because who pays for that these days, but because that's where they've agreed to meet.

She sees the face from the selfie Henrietta sent. With a thick feeling in her throat, Hollyhock walks over. Henrietta sees her, and her whole face lights up in a broken smile.

"Hi, I'm Hollyhock."

Henrietta bursts into tears again, but it's okay. Hollyhock can hug her now. Everything is going to be fine. She's got eight dads who love her, a brother who's less of a jerk than she thought, and she's about to spend time with someone she's sure is going to be her friend. In fact, things are going to be pretty great.


End file.
